Proactive Interference in Short-Term Memory: Recall Probability as a Function of Prior Item Recall

Abstract

In two different experiments, one with 23 brain surgery patients and one with 39 college students, proactive interference in short-term memory was evaluated as a function of the recall of the just preceding item in a Brown-Peterson distractor technique. In the first experiment, the probability of an error following an error was .25, and the probability of an error following a correct item was .24. In the second experiment, there was also no significant effect ( p > .05) of either prior item repetition or recall upon recall of the subsequent item, except in the case of prior items having a retention interval of 24 sec. In that case, well-remembered items exerted less proactive interference than items on which an error had been made. The results were evaluated in terms of a theory derived from the selector mechanism proposed for long-term memory (Postman, Stark, & Fraser, 1968).